Higgins highlights importance of Voting Rights Act

by jmaloni

Press release

Wed, Mar 6th 2013 08:50 am

Calls
on Congress to take steps to improve access to the democratic process

Congressman
Brian Higgins, NY-26, spoke Tuesday from the House Floor to call on
Congress to take steps to eliminate barriers to voting and ensure
that every American who wants to cast a ballot is able to do so. He
also spoke in support of preserving the integrity of the Voting
Rights Act, whose Section 5 is currently in question before the
Supreme Court in Shelby County v.
Holder.

Higgins
returned this week from the annual Faith & Politics Institute
Congressional Pilgrimage, which took a delegation of Congressional
representatives on a tour of civil rights landmarks in Alabama.

The
text of Higgins' remarks is below:

"Mr.
Speaker,

"This
weekend I joined a trip led by Congressman John Lewis to some of the
landmark sites of the civil rights struggle, culminating in a walk
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 48th anniversary of his
historic march.

"The
trip underscored the importance of the Voting Rights Act, which is
responsible for a much of the progress we have made toward
eliminating voter discrimination, and the need for the Supreme Court
to uphold Section 5 of the law in the case pending before it.

"Meanwhile,
in Congress we should be working to eliminate the inexcusably long
lines at polling places across the country and ensure that every
American who wants to cast a ballot is able to do so.

"Decades
ago, Congressman Lewis helped lead the fight for the idea that all
Americans should be able to participate in our democratic process. It
is my hope that the Supreme Court and this Congress will honor that
struggle in the years ahead."